Chapter 16: Walk.

Youngjae went to Dasom's apartment downstairs, hoping to see the dog, but above all, to see Dasom, so when Daehyun was the one to open the door, his excitement turned into disappointment. Daehyun wasn't happy to see Youngjae either; he just stood still with the dog in his arms, staring at Youngjae with a frown.

    “Everytime I come here, it's you” Youngjae said as he looked at Daehyun.

    The older wore a Triple nine white t-shirt with a red square in the center, black jeans and black sneakers.

    “Is Dasom even living here?” Youngjae asked.

    “Of course she is” Daehyun said “But right now she's out, doing girl stuff”

    “Girl stuff?”

    “She went to the salon to get her hair and nails done”

    Daehyun felt stupid, even though he pretended to be a girl for the past weeks, he really didn't know a thing about them.

    “So she won't be back anytime soon” Youngjae said “It’ll take ages to make her look presentable, you know, she isn’t any Miss Korea”

    “Stop calling me ugly” Daehyun pouted.

    “I didn’t call you ugly, I called her ugly”

    “We are twins!”

    “Well, I guess I called you ugly” Youngjae chuckled.

    “So you’ve come all the way to call me and my sis ugly”

    “Actually I came to see my dog” Youngjae the head of the dog in Daehyun’s arms.

    “It's not your dog”

    “I paid half of the vet bills, half dog is mine” Youngjae said “And I want to take him for a walk”

    “I was going to take him for a walk before you showed your up”

    “I thought taking him to Han River” they said in unison.

    They exchanged glances. They didn’t just spoke at the same time, but they said the very same thing like they were in synch, like they could read each other’s mind.

    “We can both take…” Youngjae ran his hand through his hair.

    “Kanji, his name is Kanji”

    “Couldn't you give him a classier name?”

    “Like what?”

    “Youngjae”

    “You say classy, I say ”

    “Ha, ha” Youngjae replied “So are we going or not?”

    Daehyun thought about the time he spent with Youngjae, the time he got the cold and Youngjae stayed by his side. At first it was awkward, but in the end it turned out to be good, thus Daehyun decided that wasn’t so bad to spend the day with Youngjae again.

    “Are we going or not?” Youngjae asked a second time.

    “Yes” Daehyun said and kicked a picnic basket straight to him "You take it"

Youngjae's car was a red convertible and Daehyun sat next him in the copilot seat while he drove. It was Daehyun’s first time in a convertible and he liked the feeling of the wind, playing with his hair, and so was Kanji that barked eagerly. 

They arrived at the river within minutes; Youngjae left his car in the parking lot and headed with Daehyun to one of the many amazing parks that surrounded the place.

    “There’s a tablecloth in the basket” Daehyun said “Spread it on the grass”

    “Sure, my majesty” Youngjae took the cloth and put it on the ground.

    “Thank you very much, servant” Daehyun said and sat down “Are you hungry? I bet you are” he talked to Kanji while he rocked him back and forth like he was a baby.

    Kanji Daehyun's cheek in reply, making him giggle. Absorbed, Youngjae watched the scene, Daehyun's gestures were identical to Dasom’s, his laughter sounded good, the wrinkles that formed around his eyes whenever he laughed or smiled looked good…

    “Let's have lunch first” Daehyun’s voice snapped Youngjae out of his thoughts “This day is perfect for a picnic, don’t you think? It’s been raining for so long I thought the sun would never set again”

    Youngjae didn’t reply, he just sat down while Daehyun opened the basket and took lunchboxes from the inside.

    “The pink one is for Kanji” Daehyun removed the lid and showed Youngjae the food “I woke up early to make this”

    Youngjae took one look, there were salmon, bread and fruit salad made of coconut, banana, orange, mango, blueberries, blackberries, apple, pineapple, melon. Everything looked delicious and Daehyun did it for Kanji and Youngjae couldn’t help being jealous.

    “Come on, sweetie, dig in” Daehyun placed the lunchbox in front of the dog.

    “Hell, he's been with you for a few hours and already has your bad habit of chewing loudly”

    “I don’t chew… Grrr” Daehyun hissed “This is for me” Daehyun showed Youngjae a green lunchbox “I made sandwiches”

    Youngjae gulped; at that point, he was hungry after seeing so many food.

    “You got none; I didn’t know you were coming, but you can have a bite” Daehyun offered a sandwich to Youngjae.

    Youngjae had a sudden deja vu of Dasom bringing him lunchboxes.

    “Come on, unlike you I’m a great chef” Daehyun insisted on and Youngjae accepted the sandwich with meatballs and melted cheese and gave it a try.

    “Is it good? Do you like it?”

    “Yeah”

    “Can't you be more excited?”

    “Oh yeah, it's the best sandwich ever, I'm so happy I could die”

    “Now you're overreacting” Daehyun slapped his arm.

    “You got anything to drink?”

    “There's coke”

    Youngjae checked the basket for the coke, he ripped the lid right off the can and took several sips before passing it on to Daehyun who drank the soda without thinking… until he thought and realized that Youngjae drank first… Youngjae's lips touched the edge of the can and now Daehyun's lips were touching the edge… It was as if their lips touched, it was an intimate thing, it was an indirect kiss.

    Daehyun brain told him it was stupid, those things only happened in doramas and even so it didn’t make any sense at all, sharing a drink didn’t mean they kissed. However, Daehyun’s body reacted differently, the mere thought of him and Youngjae kissing made him spit the drink out.

    “Are you ok?!” Youngjae exclaimed in shock.

    “Yeah” Daehyun avoided eye contact as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

    Then Kanji started to bark and jump around, Youngjae took the pink lunchbox to find it empty.

    “Kanji ate it all” Youngjae said, surprised, because it was a lot of food.

    “'Cause I'm a great cook and he knows it” Daehyun rubbed Kanji’s head gently.

    “Now what?”

    “Now we enjoy the view” Daehyun said and set his eyes on the reflection of the sunlight in the water.

    The sight was beautiful and he wished he had brought the camera to take pics, but he forgot with Youngjae’s sudden appearance. They had a fun time so far, Daehyun thought and wondered if Youngjae felt the same, he doubted it, after all, Youngjae had hoped to go out with Dasom, not Daehyun. 

    Meanwhile, unlike Daehyun, Youngjae didn’t think too much, he just hummed randomly and kept the lunchboxes in the basket, then he found a pink chew toy in the shape of a bone.

    “It's Kanji favorite toy” Daehyun said excitedly “It's strawberry flavored”

    Kanji snatched the toy from Youngjae’s hand and chewed it energetically.

    “I see” Youngjae drew another toy inside the basket, it was a pink frisbee “Why's everything pink? Isn’t he male?” Youngjae lifted up Kanji's paw to try to see whether he was male or female.

    “It's a boy” Daehyun slapped his hand.

    “Why's everything pink?” Youngjae asked again.

    “Because he's a pretty, pretty boy”

    “If you think about painting pink his fingernails I won’t let you” Youngjae said “Now let's make some exercise, Kanji needs it after eating so much” Youngjae held the frisbee tightly as he stood up.

    “No way” Daehyun shook his head “Didn’t you hear the vet? His paw is hurt”

    “It's a slight cut, the best thing to do is work out to regain strength”

    “He isn't ready”

    “Then why did you bring this?” Youngjae shoved the frisbee in Daehyun's face.

    “It came with the chew toy”

    “I think Kanji is ready and you're being overprotective”

    “I'm not”

    “Can we at least try? If it’s too much for Kanji, I'll let go” Youngjae wanted to throw the frisbee badly.

    “Fine, but if Kanji gets hurt, I'll break your leg” Daehyun said and took the chew toy away from Kanji and lay him on the grass.

    “Ok, buddy, you're half mine, so you have to be smart” Youngjae showed Kanji the frisbee before throwing it with all his might.

    Despite his wound, Kanji ran after the frisbee and jumped the highest to catch it with his fangs and then he returned to Youngjae with the toy.

    “I knew it, you're so smart” Youngjae complimented him.

    “It's my turn” Daehyun said, he wanted to throw the frisbee.

    “No, you're so dumb you'll throw it into the river”

    “I won’t” Daehyun snatched the frisbee from Youngjae and tossed it.

    Kanji chased the frisbee promptly, however, he stopped as the frisbee crashed into the top of a tree.

    “You’re right, you didn’t threw it into the river” Youngjae chuckled loudly as he saw the frisbee trapped among the leaves.

    Daehyun grabbed a rock and threw it up towards the frisbee, however, the rock didn’t even touch the toy and fell…

    “Aaaaah!!! You're crazy!!!” Youngjae stepped aside, the rock nearly hit him.

    “You got a better idea?” Daehyun asked and then he raised one eyebrow and smiled mischievously “Climb the tree and bring back the frisbee”

    “You climb the tree; you're the smartass that tossed it there”

    “Let's decide with rock-paper-scissors”

    “Why drag it? You’re going to lose, just start climbing”

    “Shut up” Daehyun said and they played and Daehyun lost, that made Youngjae laugh harder.

    “Fine” Daehyun said with his hands on his waist “Kids climb trees all the time, it’s easy, I can do it”

    “I'll catch you if you fall” Youngjae tried to sound serious, but he couldn’t stop laughing.

    “Stop joking” Daehyun got goose bumps.

    He breathed in and out several times before climbing the tree. The first seconds were easy, but as he got higher, he started feeling dizzy. He shut his eyes and reached his hand out to grasp the frisbee, however, his fingertips barely touched it. He moved up, trying to get closer, but he lost his balance and fell.

    Youngjae gasped as he ran to Daehyun, he meant it when he said he'd catch him, however, he tripped and fell on his face and Daehyun fell on him.

    “Aaaaaah, what's wrong with you?!” Youngjae screamed in pain.

    “Oh my God!!! You really caught me!!!” Daehyun said in surprise as he sat up on Youngjae's back “I thought you'd catch me with your arms though, not with your ” Daehyun patted Youngjae's lower back “Are you ok?”

    “No!!! You're heavier than a whale!!!”

    “I'm not” Daehyun considered sitting on Youngjae for a long time as payback, but in the end he pulled away and cleaned off the leaves on his pants.

    “Did you at least recover the frisbee?” Youngjae rolled on his stomach and was about to get up when the frisbee fell against his face “Oh my God, am I bleeding?!!!” Youngjae touched his face as he reached Daehyun “Tell me, how bad is it?!”

    “You aren't bleeding, you're fine”

    “I feel a bump on my forehead”

    “There's none”

    “Take a good look” Youngjae shoved his forehead in Daehyun's face “Is it a bump? Is it bruised?!”

    Daehyun couldn’t see anything, Youngjae’s hair was right up against his nose and it smelled sweet. Daehyun shook his head and backed off with his hand on his chest, his heart raced savagely.

    “Oh my God, do I need to go to the hospital?!”

    “No, no, you're perfectly fine” Daehyun stopped him by the shoulders “and don't go near, keep your distance, I remind you, I don't like people invading my personal space...”

    It was a lie, Daehyun had no problem. It was ok if Natalie, Himchan, Jongup, his family, his coworkers came closer, but it wasn’t ok if Youngjae did it, because sometimes Youngjae was too nice and Daehyun was thankful, but he didn’t want those thankful feelings to turn into something else, it’d be weird; things were already messed up.

    Besides, they both were men. Daehyun had never felt anything for a guy and he didn’t want to start with Youngjae, especially because Youngjae did seem to have feelings for Dasom… It was really, really ed up.

    “How bad is it?!!!” Youngjae rubbed his forehead endlessly “Is the bump big? How big? Is it going to leave a scar?”

    “It is not bad, it's nothing” Daehyun said “But if you're so freaked out, I carry bandaids in case Kanji gets hurt”

    “What are you waiting for? Put it on the bump”

    “You're such a baby” Daehyun took the bandaids off the pocket “It’s Frozen bandaids”  

    “I don't care”

    “You want Elsa or Anna?”

    “Don’t you have Olaf?”

    “You’re serious?”

    “Whatever, I don’t care”

    Daehyun chose Elsa and removed the covering on the adhesive part of the bandage and put it on Youngjae’s imaginary bump.

    “How am I?”

    “You're ridiculous”